1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to sliding shower doors, and, more particularly, to a headerless sliding shower door assembly.
2. Background of the Invention
Most conventional sliding shower door panels are comprised of fully framed translucent panels, where the frames are made from aluminum or other non-rusting metallic material. Fully framed shower door panels, though functional, are undesirable from a manufacturing, as well as an aesthetic point of view. Fully framed shower door panels are undesirable from a manufacturing viewpoint because of the material and labor costs incurred in fabricating and installing the metal frames about the translucent panels. Fully framed shower doors are also undesirable from an aesthetic point of view because unsightly oxidation typically develops on the framing members within a short period of time.
The aesthetic functionality of a shower door may be improved if a method may be devised to eliminate the door frames. Likewise, elimination of the door frames would improve manufacturing efficiency by eliminating material costs and reducing manufacturing operations. Some efforts towards frameless shower doors have been attempted in the art. In particular, shower doors in which the vertical framing members are eliminated have been developed. Such doors, while a step forward in the art, nevertheless typically still retain horizontal framing members such as a lower horizontal rail member and an upper horizontal header member and therefore suffer from all of the drawbacks of fully framed shower doors, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree. Thus, there remains room for improvement in the art.
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a completely frameless sliding shower door assembly, i.e. an assembly that eliminates not only the vertical framing members of prior art doors, but also the vertical header and rail members as well.